121520OCT2007

Day started as always with our trip to the orphanage to see Alexei. Nothing really striking to report. We took the baby carriage that we bought for the orphanage to Dr Irina. It was the best one the store had and in my biased opinion it is still a piece of Chinese crap but it was better than some of the others and may last at least a season.

Last night we went to Bavaria, one of the only restaurants here that has an English menu and I overheard some English being spoken by a couple that had that “Amerikanski” look. Sure enough it was a pediatrician Sam and his wife Julie from Boston. They are here for the same reason almost all Americans come here. Their little girl is in the same room as our son and he said he had seen him.

From a pediatricians eye view he said that he looks perfectly healthy. He even offered to give him a look when he goes today (they visit in the afternoon). That was a relief because the pics we sent never made it through to Dr. Lieberman at CHOP. He also gave me a few things to check for today. Alexei passed with flying colors. He can reach past the center line with both hands, he responds to sounds in each ear, he grasps things and pulls them up to his mouth, etc. He also looked at his features and said there is no sign of fetal alcohol syndrome. I also checked for some other motor skill stuff today. He is crawling around the crib, gets up on all fours and can hold it for a minute, rolls over, picks up the “suska” (binky) and can put it in his mouth, he can sit and uses his hands as a tripod to assist himself.

He happens to be Jewish (go figure). So I got the good seal of approval from a Jewish Dr. in Kazakhstan. Can’t get much better endorsement than that. He told us that he and his wife (who is a nurse aesthetician) visited a few hospitals yesterday and in fact walked in during an operation on their tour. He said it was an amazing sight and an experience that could never happen in the U.S. They were actually cutting someone as they went into the operating room. He said they are very good but don’t have nearly the technology they need.

We took some Danish to the Dolphin House (the orphanage) today. Luckily it coincided with the end of Ramadan and the caregivers are Moslem so it was a good move. They were delighted.

Afterward we went with Olyeesa to a restaurant outside of town called “Piggy something or other.” I wasn’t sure when I went in because it looked really seedy and not very clean but the food turned out to be excellent. I got to see the landscape on the drive out there and it is flat like a pancake. I haven’t seen flatness like that since junior high school! Not a mountain in sight in any direction.

On the way Andre our driver invited me to go fishing with his father in-law and son. It means 3 days with no-one that speaks English and they are fishing for carp so I’m not sure I’m gonna go but it was a very nice gesture. He also gave me some stickers for the car back home. Those white ones with the 2 letters indicating what country your from that everyone has back home. These say “KZ.”

After that we went shopping for baby stuff and I was like a Dad at the mall. Olyeesa and Bonnie were looking at everything as I sat in the “husband chair” an drifted off until they had spent my money and asked me to carry the bag of stuff back to the hotel. A lot of what was bought is for the Dolphin House so it was for a good cause. I just had to laugh because even 15,000 miles away from home some things are constants in the universe.

Tomorrow Olyeesa’s son Liev and her boyfriend are going to join us in the afternoon for bowling, the national sport of New Jersey.